The present invention relates to a system for monitoring and reducing energy use in buildings and, more particularly, to a system for collecting data relating to an individual's energy use habits, home appliance efficiency, insulation levels and fuel types used and storing collected data at a remote site preferably over an electronic network. The system includes deriving cost analysis and analytical information based on such data available to the individual.
Research has shown that more than 20% of the energy used in the United States could be saved by simple means using existing technologies if consumers were more aware of how they could contribute. The lack of knowledge is caused in whole or in part by a lack of awareness by the general public about how this waste occurs. More and more, our society requires people to lead fast-paced, achievement-oriented lifestyles that often result in little to no attention being paid to how energy is used in the home. However, many not only recognize the correlation between reduced energy use and their pocket books, but accept the positive effects on climate change that ensue when less fossil fuels are burned. As a result, a growing number of Americans would likely reduce their energy consumption if a system existed to help identify where most energy is used in the home and show how small, individual reductions in energy consumption can aggregate to significant reductions if these same actions are taken by the community as a whole. People are interested in establishing responsible energy consumption lifestyles, they simply need education and encouragement to create and maintain them.
Several systems exist that provide measurements of energy used by individual electric appliances or the house as a whole, but these systems must be plugged in to the energy consuming devices in question in order for readings to be taken. The expensive nature of these products tends to limit use to highly motivated individuals. Moreover, these people tend to be familiar with the language used in the art and can appreciate the significance of kWh, BTU, Therms, and Joules in the readings provided by these products. Conversely there are no products available to address the needs of the general population interested in achieving a lower energy lifestyle. Uniquely, the present invention allows individuals to monitor and reduce their consumption of energy from all common sources such as electric, natural gas, propane gas and heating oil.
There have been several attempts to meet the needs of these individuals, including a profusion of energy reduction programs, monitoring equipment, and a plethora of self help web sites on the Internet. Each of these attempts is targeted to empower the individual to take charge and reduce energy consumption. Further, US Patent Publication 2010/0318235 to Moss discloses a wireless sensing device in communication with an appliance to determine when it is on or off and measuring one of humidity, temperature, or ambient light and communicating the appliance usage data to a data collection gateway. Moss, however, is unnecessarily complicated and inefficient in measuring and collecting actual energy usage data in order to affect human behavior to reduce energy usage. Such actual quantitative measurements are unexpectedly unnecessary in the present application.
In addition, the system proposed by Moss requires multiple sensors to measure energy or every energy consumption event which will require a significantly undesirable amount of battery power and time. The Moss system is an event trigger and stores no data to allow thermal step response determination. By contrast, the present system requires only a sampled data collection that allows energy use analysis.
Although presumably effective for their intended purposes, each of these proposals addresses only part of the needs of individuals seeking a lower energy lifestyle and ignores many of the real barriers that most individuals face when trying to adopt such a lifestyle. These barriers include the fact that the individual is often left to himself or herself to find motivation, to implement a plan for achieving a lower energy lifestyle, to monitor progress, and to brainstorm solutions when problems arise; the fact that existing programs are directed to only certain aspects of change to a lower energy lifestyle, and rarely come as a complete package; and the fact that recommendations are most often made in the language of Power Engineers, not in a language readily understood by the individual.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system and method for detecting, monitoring and reporting energy use in the home. Further, it would be desirable to have a system that establishes a baseline of current energy use, proposes a reduction plan, and monitors progress toward meeting the proposed goals, and which provides advice, based on energy usage data, weather, and building thermal step response—all correlated with real time clock data—on home improvements and materials to improve the home's energy use profile.